TN makes doctor shopping a felony
As every physician knows, there's a small but determined percentage of the population who will do whatever it takes to get their drug of choice--including seeing multiple doctors for the same condition or faking up conditions they don't have. Quite often, what they're looking for is narcotics.
Now, such behavior is a felony, at least if you're a TennCare enrollee in Tennessee. The state has enacted a law that makes it easier for TennCare to bring charges against patients that fraudulently obtain drugs. Patients can be charged if they willingly go to different providers with the intent to fool the physician, not mention a previous prescription for a controlled substance and have TennCare pay for the visit.
To learn more about the new law:
- read this piece from The Tennessean
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Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 11:20pm | July 29, 2008
I think more states should follow TN's recent change in "doctor shopping". People like that make it more difficult for those who truly have chronic pain or cancer pain. Plus how do these people pay for these drugs? In CA, all pharmacies keep track of patients and meds they are prescribed so I am assuming they are paying out of pocket for the illegal drug searches. And believe me, the heavy duty pain meds are very expensive, so they must be selling part of what they get from the doctor hopping, to keep their "fix" and as a former healthcare professional, find it disgusting people are allowed to go doctor shopping.
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